Posts by InsightsDigital

This is fabulous insights. Thanks!

In regards to SEO, I think of the following metrics:
1. # of results per search engine in English
2. differences in # of results among various related keywords
3. different categories represented.
4. Where does your company fall under the first page, second page, and even third page or SERPs?
5. Where does competitors fall in the first, second, and third page?

What other metrics to you associate with SEO?

I wonder with Bing quickly gaining market share, if now websites need to optimize for Bing as well....

Some time ago, I actually created manually an excel sheet to monitor keyword results and pagerank of several sites. After a few weeks, I abandoned the project. Why? These numbers dont really push the bottom line.

As a business owner, one has to be very concerned with the bottom line. Though I have seen many advertising tactics that were more qualitative, especially in social media. Thus, one may add a web analytics javascript on the website and get the metrics from an online advertising campaign, but how else do you measure reach and success?

Thanks for the advice!

What is the best way to learn about affiliate marketing for a newbie? Can you please recommend resources. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing. I remember that directory submission was the craze a few years ago but not now.

The backlink will help you especially if it is coming from a well respected site.

So I also would like to add: Which mobile phone allows for easier monitory of your online communities? Is it the iphone or blackberry?

I recommend going to video related meetups and events and plugging your website there. It is a good start to get buzz.

I will check out Opera. My concerns are privacy and viruses.

These are good metric recommendations. Thanks. I also would like to add, assessing the sentiment of the comments - whether its positive, neutral, non relevant, or negative. But this measure is very qualitative.

I remember that I was in a similar dilemma some time ago when I was working for a beauty product pitch and my team thought going green was one advertising strategy. I found this link back then and it is old but I thought its good insights on the green advertising networks.
http://blog.futurelab.net/2007/09/aggregating_green_audiences.html

Hi

There are lessons we have learned while doing internet marketing. Which lessons have you learned? I have learned:
1. NOT to create a website on Flash, especially the home page.
2. Becareful where you submit your links.
3. You can create the best website but if you dont plug it, it will not get much visitors.
4. Be attentive to "Above The Fold"
5. Dont violate Google's search engine crawler rules.

Hi

I betcha not everyone on this board is an Affiliate Marketer. I know I have heard of it and know of it but dont know much more beyond it is commission based. So for the experts out there on Affiliate Marketing, what advice do you have for someone who wants to get into it?
Thanks!

As an SEO expert I met once on an Amtrak train told me, "Becareful where you park your website. If you park it on a bad neighborhood, you may undesired results." This is very relevant to link directories. Becareful where you link to.

I regard with the rest of the posters. Both internal and external links are strong influences. What is really important is the quality of the links and how these links are relevant to the content of your sites. Keep these factors in mind.

I have known bloggers who have used such tactics and now they are paying a big price. How? Well, visitors cants find the bloggers' sites on Google search engine result pages. This is truly a high price to pay.

I personally have been turned off by a subjective blog but then again, would one expect to find objective blog in the first place, especially an employee's blog.

So it brings up the question "Is it possible to achieve privacy while surfing online - at all?"

The blogger's insights are similar to a commentary I read back in 1995 or so in which the author stated that web presence is not necessary since it will not be visited much and it is more of a nuisance than a necessity. Now, fast forward to 2009. For a business not having a web presence is a liability than a nuisance.
I wonder if that blogger you mentioned is probably plugging a future book tied to his theory and trying to gain momentum.

What could be an alternative for PageRank? Back in the mid 90's, I paid subscription for a metasearch engine, Copernic, which yielded results ranked in the order if I clicked it before. Very interesting concept.

Hi

Very good question. I got into SEO not through the marketing end but via the research route. Back in my non-profit days, I ran the data research and information division and I had to do whatever I had to do to: 1. get information on what patients expected; 2. lead visitors to the medical library. Thus, I discovered the power of keywords and optimizing content/website design to increase the visits of targeted visitors.

Hi

It seems that the trend is that SEO techniques have Google in mind. But what about optimizing for the other search engines like Bing and Yahoo?

I have an option in one of my blogs where I hae to authorize every single comment. Some of legits but the majority are spam. I never authorize them. It is time consuming but it helps.

Not necessarily. Page Rank does take into consideration the age of the site and if the site was recently created, it may not be crawled yet or have accumulated time authority.

Hi

Have you submitted to link directories. If so, what has been your experience? Most best practices guidebooks advise against it.

Yes, Yahoo Analytics is free.

I strongly recommend to read Avinash's blog entry. If you dont know Avinash, he is considered one of the top Web Analytics Guru.

http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/

For your online reservation business, I strongly recommend you to do a strong online PR outreach to content sites that may do a write up on your site.

Link directories are also known as link farms. Linking to link farms is not recommended since many of them may not be relevant in content to your site and will be rated accordingly by the search engine crawler.

Social media can be accessibile on most mobile devices nowadays. Which applications do you have on your mobile to monitor your online community? I know I have Facebook on my Blackberry but not on my iTouch. What do you have?

From a personal perspective, social network has helped me keep in touch with first cousins I never met. From a professional perspective, social networks are a very important and valuable resource.

Though Google constantly updates its algorithms, Google's PageRank is considered a very important SEO indicator. In your experience, have you witnessed situations where it made you think otherwise?

With the release of the new iPhone 3G S, I wonder if businesses will create new apps to tap to this market.

Reading from another forum on this community, many bloggers disclosed their PageRank to be within the 0-2 range. Even for a blog I have that has not been updated often, the PageRank is 2. What is your blog's PageRank? Is it a business or personal blog?

Thank you Marketing Rob for bringing this issue up. As technology has allowed people to stay connected and together as an expected part of life, it is no surprise that the Obama Administration not only embrace technology in its campaign but also now its the creation of this new cabinet position.

Thanks for sharing! I hope other members share their success stories as well.

Microblogging has allowed businesses to announce special deals, contests, and valuable information to their Followers. Microblogging may require time and resources. To monitor tweets and followers, there is TweetDeck and Seesmic, available on iPhone and on desktop version.
What is your strategy to monitor tweets? What is your frequency?

I totally agree with MktgRob. Just because there is a plethora of social media avenues available does not mean that businesses have to embrace and use every single one. You have to determine which tactic will help bring the most targeted visitors to your site.

I recommend you to read this: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/paidlinks

Ultimately, these "black hat" techniques could lead to a very low PageRank and hurt the client's ranking on SERPs.

oh not at all!!! Im just saying that I thought it was interesting to hear the story on how this business owner packed his place up. Successful blogger outreach, I may say.

If you want to know exactly where on your web page visitors click to, you may consider CrazyEgg.

Last night, I passed by a new bar. This bar was packed. I just happened to make conversation with the owner of the new bar who said that night was the grand opening and he invited all the food and wine bloggers in the NYC area. His tactic was a success. The place was packed. So have you outreached to bloggers to promote your business and what did you learn?

Since the age of web 3.0 is emerging, how are you modifying your marketing plans accordingly?

First of all, you need to improve the rating of those sites. I received a huge warning sign on my web browser that said "WARNING: This website has very poor rating."

Fortune Magazine mentioned that Facebook has more US visitors than Myspace. Many businesses create some kind of Facebook presence but what about creating a Myspace presence? Do you advertise on Myspace?

hi there im a newbies so if u have a suggestion please PM me

SNIP

So how would you promote your new business?

What Do You Think Are The Best Three Ways To Promote A New Business?
I would say, it all depends on your type of business and what is the goal, but it is always good to have::
1. Website - non Flash
2. Blog
3. Online Advertising